


Lost Magic

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Prompt Collection [21]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Getting Together, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony isn't the biggest fan of magic, but he hates taking it away from Stephen even more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 22:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16606703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: Magic suppression collar. Two takes on one scenario. In one Stephen surrenders his magic by choice in the other one Tony is forced to do it without his consent.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> May inbox once again wanted me to torture poor Stephen:  
>  _(I found this prompt on ironstrangeprompts, and it broke my heart so I decided to share that pain) Tony refuses to let Stephen into the Compound unless he wears a magic suppression collar. Stephen agrees and suffers for it, but refuses to say anything after everything he put Tony through when he gave up the Time Stone._
> 
> I saw this, tried to write it and went "Nope! Tony would/could never do that to anybody, let alone someone he cares for or even loves" in about two sentences. So, this happened: Two scenarios where Tony puts a magic suppression collar around Stephen’s neck - and both times he’s forced to do it against his will.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **_Scenario #1:_ ** _Stephen, for the greater good, insists. Tony’s disgusted and heartbroken and will make it up to Stephen ASAP._

“If you don’t do it, you won’t get into the compound, period.” Tony crossed his arms and looked at Stephen. The challenge was clear and after a moment of consideration Stephen decided to be the bigger man and yield.

He took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.” The thought of surrendering his magic to some technical… plaything made him sick to his stomach but he’d lived the bigger part of his life without it, he could do so again for a few hours, if necessary. _It **is** necessary_, he assured himself as he tried to fight the building panic down.

Tony looked at him as if he couldn’t believe his answer. “Okay?” he repeated. “You’re sure?”

No, he wasn’t. Yes, he was. “Just do it, Tony.” He gave in with a resigned sigh.

Tony held out the collar but Stephen refused to touch that thing with more of his body than necessary. Instead he held up his hands - trembling more than usual because of his nervousness - and cocked an eyebrow. “And you really think that I can put this on by myself?”

Tony looked down at his hands and then up again. “Stephen,” he said incredible gentle. “Don’t do that to yourself. We can meet somewhere else - at my home, at yours. Fuck, I’ll set up a video feed and we can meet at the nearest Starbucks or on the moon for all I care.”

“You told me that they need a sorcerer at the compound to assess the threat Loki brings to earth. To speak about the things he might be capable of doing if he’s allowed asylum here. The rules, under which the compound operates, state clearly that no magical users are allowed inside - except those whose magic is dampened by technological means.” He could have quoted the relevant paragraphs verbatim but kept himself to the essential truth behind them. He needed to get into the Avengers compound to get to the damn meeting. Thanks to the UN he couldn’t get in there with his magic working. Tony had the means to suppress it. Ergo…

“Just put the collar on me, Tony. I’ll survive.” He’d left the Cloak at home since he couldn’t bring it either so his throat was bare anyway. He took a step closer, his head held up high, the invitation clear.

“I don’t want to put this on you.” Tony reached out with his free hand and touched Stephen’s throat, directly beneath his Adam’s apple. “Don’t you have anyone else to send instead?” The touch was light as a feather but Stephen shivered nonetheless. His throat had always been one of the more sensitive areas of his body and since he lost most of the feeling in his hands it had only become more so.

“Would it be easier to put it on anyone else? To suppress a big part of their identity?”

The question was meant to be rhetorical but Tony looked at him as if he was the biggest idiot in the world. “Of course,” he answered after a moment. “I would rather put it on anyone else, including myself. I would drag them all out here to meet you if I could.” He caressed Stephen’s skin for a moment before he seemed to realize that he was touching him and stopped. Stephen mourned the loss of contact immediately.

“Why?”

Another look and was that a faint blush on Tony’s cheeks? Stephen was charmed, intrigued and confused in equal measures.

“You don’t deserve this.”

Stephen shrugged. “Debatable. But it’s my choice and I made it.” He had to admit that Tony’s reluctance was welcome. Plus, it helped him to overcome his own unwillingness - something that was always easier when he had something to push against. “Put the damn thing on me and let’s get this over with.”

Tony held the collar up again. “Only if you promise me something.”

“What?”

“That I’m allowed to get this off you as soon as possible. And then I want to treat you to a nice dinner.”

“Just dinner?” Stephen couldn’t resist, despite feeling his own blush creeping up his face. Damn, this was turning out different than anticipated. Not that he was complaining…

This time it was Tony who took a deep breath before he closed the last step between them. “If you play your cards right I might invite you up for the night afterwards.” He slowly and carefully put the thing around Stephen’s neck.

Stephen closed his eyes and savored _that_ mental image as the metal-nanite-monstrosity clicked shut. The feeling of losing the better part of himself was immediate and awful. He started to shake immediately and his breath stopped.

“Stephen?” Tony’s concerned voice pulled him back from the abyss. “Breathe, please. I’ll take it off right now if you don’t.” Tony was holding on to his elbows again, just like so many months ago on Titan. It was comforting. Then one of those hands moved up and slipped between the collar and his skin. Tony’s voice and the gentle hold grounded him and he forced himself to open his eyes. The world looked somehow duller and emptier and he felt lightheaded, as if he hadn’t eaten for days. “I’ll take it off again, okay?”

He took a deep breath and concentrated on himself, not the things no longer there. “No. Let’s get this over with. You can make it up to me later.”

Tony looked at him and stroked him once again before withdrawing his hand. Stephen shivered again, but for a different reason. “Gladly.” He didn’t take his other hand of Stephen’s elbow as he led him into the compound and didn’t stray from his side for the whole time they were in there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **_Scenario #2:_ ** _Tony has to suppress Stephen’s magic to save his life and is afraid of Stephen hating him afterwards._

He was so tired, too tired to try to move or open his eyes and his right hip was on fire. There was a hand in his hair, stroking him gently. Whispered voices, words that made no sense. Instead he chose to drift and enjoy the soothing touch. Then, suddenly: “He’s going to hate me for this.”

Tony. He sounded worried and afraid but Stephen didn’t know why. He wanted to protest, to reassure Tony that no, he could never hate him, but the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t move but was too tired to panic.

“Then he can hate me too, because it was my idea in the first place. You’re saving his life, he’ll forgive you.” Wong didn’t sound any better than Tony.

“I’m sorry, Stephen. I hope you’ll understand when you wake up.” Tony was crying, Stephen could hear it and did he feel tears on his face? “I love you.”

His head was carefully lifted up and there were hands on his throat, followed by cold metal. Something clicked shut around his neck but the faint sound was almost drowned out by Tony’s sobs.

He should be afraid by now, Stephen knew. But the strange lethargy that had him in its grip choose that moment to overwhelm him completely and he drifted away again. 

*

When he woke up the world was different.

He felt it the moment he regained consciousness - a glaring emptiness where the better part of himself should be. Automatically he tried to raise a defensive shield, only to discover that the void inside him was where his magic should be.

His thoughts stopped, his breathing too. There was nothing except a feeling of _wrongness_ and despair.

He was in the middle of a panic attack before he’d even tried to open his eyes.

“Stephen? Stephen! Come back, please, calm down. Shh, I’ve got you, you’re safe. You’re okay, calm down. I’ll explain everything, but you have to listen to me, please. Stephen, darling, listen to me.”

It was the unusual pet-name that finally broke through the haze of confusion and fear. He managed to focus enough to force his eyes open. “Tony?” he asked quietly, surprised at how weak he sounded. The man was leaning over him, watching him like a hawk.

“Hey, welcome back.” Tony attempted a smile but it became a grimace. “How are you feeling?”

Not like himself. Empty. _Dead_. “What happened?” he asked instead. Instinctively he wanted to reach up to his throat to feel the strange thing locked around him but Tony gently caught his right hand and shook his head. There were still tears in his eyes.

“Don’t,” he begged but Stephen didn’t listen. He had another hand and this time Tony didn’t stop him. His searching fingers encountered… something around his throat. They weren’t sensitive enough to really get a feel for the contraption but it seemed to be something like a collar. A _collar_. Metall. His magic gone. The connection was easy to make - the research Tony had done in the aftermath of Ultron, when he’d been so afraid of magic and having his mind played with again, that lead to a device that could suppress magical abilities in humans. And, hopefully, Asgardians. For Stephen - and any other sorcerer, really - it was a monstrosity of barely comprehensible proportions.

Stephen closed his eyes again, unable to look at Tony. “Why?” he asked in a broken whisper.

“What do you remember?” Tony grabbed his hand and gently tugged it away from the collar. By now both of his hands were held immobile in a tight grip but he was too weak to protest or even try to struggle. Instead he forced himself to _think_.

Tony would never take his magic away without reason. Despite his justified hate and a lot of problems at the beginning of their relationship he’d learned to not only tolerate but actually accept that magic was an integral part of Stephen. So, there had to be a reason, a very good one.

“There… there was a fight. Wasn’t there?” Finally some pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “Something with a… a…” The memories wouldn’t come but the panic tried to come back. He couldn’t remember, there was a big part missing… 

“Shh, baby. It’s okay. Calm down again.” _Baby_ , that was a term of endearment he was used to. One he’d hated in his old life but that by now awoke a feeling of safety and memories of being in Tony’s arms and being cared for. Stephen relaxed instinctively. His mind still wasn’t working on full speed so it was even easier to just let himself be lulled into an almost-sleep by Tony’s soothing words and gentle touches. But he was still trying to work things out.

“Something was feeding of my magic, wasn’t it?” he finally asked after the put the fragments of memory together. Some pieces were still missing but he could remember the _thing_ that had attacked him, got through his robes easily and had attached itself to his hip. And then… pain, blackness and the feeling of losing himself.

“Yeah. According to Wong it would have killed you in hours if we… _I_ … hadn’t done anything.”

“So you took my magic away.” Stephen tried really hard to keep the anguish out of his voice but he knew that he’d done a terrible job when he saw Tony flinch as if he’d been hit.

Tony took a deep breath and let go of one of his hands to brush his hair out of his face, an incredible tender gesture. “It was the only way,” he threw Stephen’s own words back at him. “The alternative was watching you die in agony. As long as there is a chance I will do anything to save you. _Anything_.”

_Even taking away a big part of my identity, it seems_ , Stephen thought. But Tony’s echo of his own words had helped in calming his anger down. _Quid pro quo._

“It let go of you not long after”, Tony continued, oblivious to Stephen’s thoughts and still desperate to explain himself. “Wong is still trying to find out what it was. But in the meantime…”

“You can’t be sure if it’s safe to get this thing off me.” Stephen tried to grab the collar again but his fingers failed him. “Try it. We’ll see what happens then.” 

“Stephen!”

But he was determined now and Tony, seeing that Stephen really meant it, gave in with an eye roll and a resigned sigh. “It goes back on the moment I see that you’re hurting again,” he threatened.

“We’ll see about that,” Stephen answered absently, still trying to get it off himself, despite knowing that it wasn’t designed that way. Finally, his patience was gone for good. “Get it off me now!”

“Not, if you don’t relax.”

_“Tony.”_

“Alright, alright. Just let me…” Another click and the feeling of oppression vanished immediately. Stephen took a deep breath and did a quick internal check.

“I think everything’s okay,” he finally said. “I’m feeling good. Normal.”

Tony snorted. “Says the man with the big, bloody hole in his hip. No, no, don’t get up. We only just managed to stop the bleeding before you woke up. A little bit longer and you’d have needed a transfusion. I’m not letting you up until you’ve been checked out by a doctor.”

Ah, yes. Tony’s words explained the dull ache in his right leg. “I am a doctor, if you remember,” he said after a moment. He longed to see the damage for himself but one look at Tony’s determined face kept him still.

“Yes, and that’s exactly why I don’t trust your judgement.” He held up a hand before Stephen could start with his protest. “I know, I know. FRIDAY’s called Christine after we brought you here. She’s on her way. The compound’s a little bit out of the way for her, after all. We really need to think about a nice thank you gift for her. She’s done so much for us. Then I’ll get you home to rest and heal. If you’re pathetic enough you might even get me to fetch and carry for you.”

Tony hat gotten him the only doctor he trusted besides himself. Stephen felt tears well up but decided to blame them on the pain. “Thank you,” he whispered. He would come back to the rest of Tony’s words later. “For saving me.”

Tony bent down and kissed him softly. “Thank you for forgiving me.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Original post.](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com/post/179886101941/i-found-this-prompt-on-ironstrangeprompts-and-it/)


End file.
